It's a tricky situation. On one hand, games in the visual novel genre typically include some form of ecchi or H content. It's almost expected, and games that don't include it (with a few major exceptions) generally don't do so well. On the other hand, we are making a game based on My Little Pony...

Does this mean it will be similar to "Katawa Shoujo" where you can choose whether or not to have sexual content featured?

Yes and no. As of right now, the plan is to include a toggle that's defaulted to "off". It won't be like KS in the sense that, instead of just skipping the scene and leaving out important content, there will be an entirely differnet scene that doesn't include a sexual aspect.

Will there be a release with sexual content and a release without it?

Considering it, but that's more of a coding issue at this point. We'd have to create a separate fork for that on top of our regular and Android versions.

Do you (the devs) fear you will have any trouble painting the picture of a realistic relationship without any adult content?

Absolutely not, but we also feel that some adult content does at times add to a story.

Hawtsauce Whilliams wrote:Do you (the devs) fear you will have any trouble painting the picture of a realistic relationship without any adult content?

There are a lot of comics that have superheroes. Some with spandex-style costumes, others with other types of outfits. It's an appealing fantasy, and an easy to sell concept. But let's be honest: you can create a comic without any kind of powerful hero, and especially without any kind of unusual outfit. I can name dozens of comics which don't have any superheroes or related tropes.

Also, keep in mind that quite a few of the romance games and VNs in my collection are genuine worksafe stories. They were built from the ground without any obligatory sex scenes, or even harem concepts. If you want me to name a few, just ask me... because I can.

To wrap up this post, think about some other stories and games. Anything from prose fiction to movies, from TV dramas to general video games, from live theater to alternative comics. How do they portray relationships? What sort of content do they have?

gekiganwing wrote:There are a lot of comics that have superheroes. Some with spandex-style costumes, others with other types of outfits. It's an appealing fantasy, and an easy to sell concept. But let's be honest: you can create a comic without any kind of powerful hero, and especially without any kind of unusual outfit. I can name dozens of comics which don't have any superheroes or related tropes.

Also, keep in mind that quite a few of the romance games and VNs in my collection are genuine worksafe stories. They were built from the ground without any obligatory sex scenes, or even harem concepts. If you want me to name a few, just ask me... because I can.

To wrap up this post, think about some other stories and games. Anything from prose fiction to movies, from TV dramas to general video games, from live theater to alternative comics. How do they portray relationships? What sort of content do they have?

I agree, it is not impossible to make a great visual novel without adult content. Unfortunately, the inevitability of the matter is that having adult content would appeal to a majority of people. I mean, let's be honest: Humans are driven to sex. It's not a bad thing unless it's abused, which is no different than eating food. In fact, it can help express somebody's love towards another, which is effective in dramatic love stories such as this one. Again, it's not impossible to write a love story without adult content, but having it in the story both appeals to people and helps express emotions within the story.

Luckily, it's possible to appeal to both sides of an audience by creating two versions of the story that includes and excludes the sex. The problem here is depending on how tied-into-the-story the sex scenes are, and the considerable amount of work depending on how much needs to be altered. The creators have made it clear that if they decided to make an 18+ version of the game, the story before/after these scenes wouldn't be harmed by this issue. I am completely supportive of the topic regarding optional adult content, and I feel it would benefit both the devs (I'd hope) and the consumers.